RMM -Chapter 192 Cheng Yue Goes Missing

As expected of someone Bai Xiong had his eye on—setting aside the quality of the drugs for the moment, the sheer quantity alone was astonishing. Watching package after package of tightly wrapped narcotics being transferred from the Zhao family to the Yan Sect, Xi Yuechen’s expression grew colder by the second.

From Xi Yuechen’s vantage point, he could clearly see the person on the Yan Sect’s side who appeared to have the most authority. That man casually took a slab of drugs from someone beside him, tore open the packaging, dabbed a little onto his fingertip, and brought it close to his eyes for a careful look. After that, he gave it a sniff. Only then did he reveal a satisfied expression.

“As long as the Zhao family keeps its word, everything’s easy to handle,” the man said with a laugh. “From now on, our two families are still brothers. Hahaha.”

He wrapped the drugs back up carelessly, handed them to the person next to him, then raised his brows and smiled. “Worthy of being chosen by Boss Zhao—truly top-grade. For this generous gift from the Zhao family, we’re deeply grateful.”

The Zhao family’s representative couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth several times. His face darkened to an alarming degree. Faced with the Yan Sect’s blatant profiteering and false politeness, he desperately wanted to curse them out, but forced himself to swallow the words.

“You’re too kind. Alright then—do you still need to inspect the goods?”

Seeing that the other side clearly didn’t want to drag this out any longer, the man wasn’t offended at all. He continued smiling amiably. “No need. There’s so much I couldn’t check it all anyway. More importantly, I trust the Zhao family’s reputation—you wouldn’t stoop to tampering with the goods here, right? That would be far too low-class, wouldn’t it?”

The repeated, deliberate mockery finally pushed the Zhao representative past his limit. His expression changed as he snapped angrily, “What do you mean by that? You think the Zhao family is easy to bully? You keep insulting us again and again—don’t get too arrogant! One day, we’ll rise again!”

“Yes, yes, of course. How would I dare bully the Zhao family?” the man replied with a grin. “What if, someday in some distant future, the Zhao family really does make a comeback—what would I do then? But right now, we still have things to take care of, so we won’t linger here. After all, this isn’t Yan Sect territory—it’s never quite safe, is it? Let’s disperse early. I still need to go back and report in.”

“Couldn’t ask for more,” the Zhao representative ground out through clenched teeth. “Safe travels—no need to see you off!”

With that, he turned and walked ahead first, as if heading back to his car.

The people on the Yan Sect’s side snorted disdainfully and followed suit, moving toward their own convoy.

Xi Yuechen had been silently observing the situation below the entire time. When the Yan Sect members reached the midpoint between the two convoys, he gave a single order.

“Move!”

On the surface, Imperial City remained peaceful and cheerful, paying no heed to the turbulent undercurrents flowing beneath—at least, that was how it looked.

There was still no sign of movement from either the Zhao family or the Yan Sect. Bai Xiong and Boss Zhao had vanished at some point, and after so much time without them reappearing, the people in the hall were no fools. They naturally sensed something amiss.

At this point, was there even the slightest indication that the Zhao family was about to deliver goods? And the Yan Sect’s calm demeanor was far too abnormal!

It was becoming clear that tonight’s “apology banquet” was nothing more than a smokescreen. Bai Xiong had truly calculated this well—humiliating the Zhao family while also toying with everyone else, and they had all obligingly rushed over just to be played.

Chances were high that the Zhao family’s delivery site was somewhere else entirely. Sigh… it seemed Bai Xiong really held a grudge against them, to pull a move like this. Boss Zhao had looked ready to devour Bai Xiong earlier, yet in the blink of an eye, he’d gone off to cooperate with him.

But then again, thinking it over, it made sense. Bai Xiong didn’t think much of them now—and the feeling was mutual on Boss Zhao’s side. Since Bai Xiong wanted to toy with them, why wouldn’t the Zhao family go along with it? In the end, the goods still had to be delivered. Besides, these people had come here mainly to watch the Zhao family make fools of themselves. What Boss Zhao did could be seen as salvaging the last shred of the Zhao family’s dignity.

Forget it. They were in the wrong to begin with. If Bai Xiong truly meant to make a joke of them, then so be it—treat it as a prank and let it pass. After all, the Yan Sect was no longer what it once was; there was no need to fall out over something like this.

And if one really thought about it, hadn’t they already gotten the spectacle they came for? The so-called “show” was the Zhao family’s groveling apology—and hadn’t Boss Zhao already apologized earlier? Seeing that alone meant the night wasn’t wasted.

Meanwhile, Liu Qi felt uneasy. His brows furrowed slightly as a question nagged at him—why hadn’t that kid Cheng Yue come back yet? Did using the restroom really take that long?

He glanced at his watch, worry creeping in. Could something have happened? Cheng Yue was usually steady and measured—he shouldn’t be acting so carelessly.

The more Liu Qi thought about it, the more uneasy he became. Over an hour had passed. No, this wouldn’t do—he had to go look for him. The banquet was about to end.

Liu Qi searched every restroom on the second floor but didn’t see Cheng Yue anywhere. Thinking it over, that made sense—no one could stay in the bathroom for over an hour.

Then he must have gone somewhere else. But where could he have gone? He hadn’t returned to the hall, and Imperial City wasn’t open for business tonight. Other than the second floor, the rest of the place should’ve been empty.

“Where did he go? How does a grown man just disappear out of nowhere?”

Liu Qi muttered under his breath, his face full of confusion. Just then, a server walked past him, and he stopped him.

“Hey, come here a moment.” After gesturing for him to approach, Liu Qi got straight to the point and asked about Xi Yuechen—no, Cheng Yue. “Did you see Cheng Yue earlier?”

“Cheng Yue?” By sheer coincidence, the person Liu Qi stopped was Tian Lie.

Tian Lie frowned in confusion. Who was Cheng Yue? How would he know someone like that? Wait—Cheng Yue wasn’t that…?

Captain Xi!

How could he forget? The captain had told them before about his undercover operation in the Yan Sect.

Seeing that the server didn’t seem to know, Liu Qi thought it over and figured it made sense. How would a mere server know Cheng Yue? Even if Cheng Yue often came here with A-Long before, not everyone would recognize him.

“It’s nothing. Go back to work,” Liu Qi said, waving him off.

Tian Lie nodded. “Yes.”

As if he didn’t know Cheng Yue? Of course he did. He even knew exactly what Cheng Yue was doing. But… how could he possibly tell you?

Tian Lie was about to leave when fate decided to stage one of those absurd “nothing ever goes smoothly” moments.

For example—

Just as Tian Lie took a step forward and Liu Qi hadn’t moved yet, both of them heard a male voice drift through the air.

“I saw him!”

Tian Lie narrowed his eyes and turned toward the speaker with clear hostility. Damn it—what business was it of yours? Who told you to speak?!

Liu Qi heard it too. Ignoring Tian Lie, he turned to look at the man. He was wearing Imperial City’s staff uniform. That made sense—so many people passed through this place. If one person didn’t see Cheng Yue, surely someone else would.

“Oh? Then where did he go?” Liu Qi asked.

The server looked slightly ingratiating, excitement bubbling in his heart. He recognized the man before him—one of Bai the Boss’s people from the Yan Sect. He’d seen him once or twice before. For someone as insignificant as himself, chances to get close to such a figure were rare. Now that an opportunity had presented itself, of course he had to seize it. If he caught the other man’s favor, he’d be far better off than staying a server here.

As for Cheng Yue—he really did know him. A few months back, someone named Cheng Yue had often come to Imperial City. He’d once heard Brother Long call him by that name. Since Cheng Yue came frequently and Brother Long treated him well, he remembered him over time.

“I saw him go downstairs,” the server said. “He probably left.”

“Left?” Liu Qi exclaimed, eyes wide. “How could he have left? Are you sure you didn’t see wrong?”

The server’s face immediately crumpled as he shook his head in explanation. “No, absolutely not. I definitely didn’t mistake him—the person I saw was him.”

“He left? Where would he go at a time like this?” Liu Qi muttered, seeing no sign of lying. His confusion deepened. At such a critical moment, Cheng Yue left without even saying a word—where could he have gone?

Off to the side, Tian Lie wished he could sew that server’s mouth shut. Blabbing the captain’s movements like this—what if the captain’s identity was exposed? And they still hadn’t received any notice from the captain’s side. No one knew how things were going over there.

Before leaving, Xi Yuechen had given them clear orders: once he succeeded, he would notify them, and only then would they act. Until that signal came, they were absolutely not to make any rash moves.

Perhaps Tian Lie’s dislike was too obvious. The server turned and looked at him, frowning in confusion. “Hey, why don’t I recognize you?”

There were many staff members at Imperial City, but after working together for a long time, they generally recognized one another. A sudden unfamiliar face was surprising—especially since there hadn’t been any new hires recently.

When the server voiced his doubt, Tian Lie’s heart skipped a beat. Damn it—big mouth indeed!

Liu Qi had been thinking about Xi Yuechen. Hearing this, he raised his head and looked at Tian Lie, a guarded glint flashing in his narrowed eyes.

Tian Lie cursed inwardly. He’d planned for everything except this—truly capsizing in a gutter. On the surface, however, he didn’t dare slack off. He quickly forced a smile and said carefully, “I’m a new hire from a few days ago. Things have been busy, so the supervisor didn’t have time to introduce me to everyone.”

The server was simple-minded. Hearing this explanation, he accepted it without much thought and didn’t pursue the matter, nodding instead.

Liu Qi, however, wasn’t entirely convinced. Suddenly, a thought struck him. They’d made a big show of this apology banquet—the commotion was significant, and everyone who should’ve known about it certainly did. Even though they’d taken precautions beforehand, nothing was ever absolute. Could there be cops infiltrating the banquet?

His heart jolted at the thought. It would be bad if anything unexpected happened. It wasn’t that they were afraid of trouble, but fewer problems were always better than more. On such an auspicious occasion, any incident would be inauspicious.

Suppressing his unease, Liu Qi took another careful look at Tian Lie, who stood there with his head lowered, appearing nervous and submissive. Then Liu Qi turned and walked away.

Seeing Liu Qi leave without another word, the server wanted to call out to him—but the sudden, fierce aura radiating from Liu Qi scared him into silence.

“Hmph. Talk less in the future—unless you want to invite disaster,” Tian Lie said coldly, restraining the urge to kick the server before striding away.

In the end, the empty corridor was left with only the bewildered server standing there alone.

As for Liu Qi, he headed up to the fourth floor to find Bai Xiong. For some reason, the unease in his heart only continued to grow stronger.